Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE:OFC) was in 5 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. OFC has experienced a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds of late. There were 5 hedge funds in our database with OFC positions at the end of the previous quarter.
To most stock holders, hedge funds are perceived as worthless, outdated financial vehicles of years past. While there are over 8000 funds in operation at present, we at Insider Monkey look at the top tier of this group, around 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group controls the majority of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by tracking their top stock picks, we have unsheathed a few investment strategies that have historically outperformed the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have topped the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (see the details here).
Just as important, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are many incentives for an insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Several academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a gander at the recent action regarding Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE:OFC).
Hedge fund activity in Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE:OFC)
Heading into 2013, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably.
According to our comprehensive database, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management had the largest position in Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE:OFC), worth close to $21.5 million, comprising 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. On Fisher Asset Management’s heels is Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, which held a $21.4 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedgies that are bullish include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors.
Because Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE:OFC) has experienced declining sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there exists a select few money managers that elected to cut their full holdings at the end of the year. It’s worth mentioning that J. Alan Reid, Jr.’s Forward Management said goodbye to the biggest position of the 450+ funds we watch, valued at an estimated $9.6 million in stock. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
Insider trading activity in Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE:OFC)
Insider buying is most useful when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time period, Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE:OFC) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 6 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE:OFC). These stocks are Highwoods Properties Inc (NYSE:HIW), CommonWealth REIT (NYSE:CWH), Brookfield Canada Office Properties (NYSE:BOXC), American Realty Capital Trust Inc (NASDAQ:ARCT), and Mack Cali Realty Corp (NYSE:CLI). This group of stocks are the members of the reit – office industry and their market caps match OFC’s market cap.
